Dear Mia,

You are my guiding force through life. I’m determined to spend every moment I can with you, because my time is limited. Every day you surprise me, and I don’t want to miss a thing.

Today we were lying on the floor, and you crawled to me. I held out my arms and with the biggest smile you turned to your hands and knees and crawled. I wanted nothing more than to pick you up and hold you high in the air to celebrate your success, but my arms are just too weak, so I laid down next to you instead. You wiped away any sadness I felt when you climbed up on my chest and gave me the wettest, most slobbery kiss. I will treasure that memory forever.

Yours truly,

Mom

Connor

I knock on my boss’s door. “Do you have a minute?”

“Sure. What can I do for you, Connor?”

I take a seat at his desk. We’ve been busy on a big case, but I’ve come to the realization that Mackenzie and Mia must come first.

I haven’t told anyone at work about Mackenzie’s illness. I understood her wanting to be treated like she wasn’t sick, so not many people outside of close family know what’s going on. But it’s time.

I fight the sting behind my eyes when I say, “Mackenzie’s sick.”

He drops what he’s doing, giving me his full attention. “How sick?” he asks, his voice laced with sympathy.

After the hospital trip a few months ago, along with doctors’ appointments I left early for multiple times, then with us moving back home, I’m sure they’ve wondered what was going on, but they never pried, which I was thankful for.

“She has a brain tumor and”—I pause, searching for the words—“let’s just say things aren’t looking good. I hate to have to do this—”

“Say no more. You take care of your family. I’ll call HR and put you on family leave. If you need more time than that, we’ll figure something out. You will always have a place here but you need to take care of your family.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “I can’t tell you what that means to me.”

“You’re a good man and a great lawyer, but family comes first. Call me if you need anything, you hear me?”

“Yes, thank you.”

I leave, unsure where my future leads or if I’ll even see this place again.

* * *

“What are you doing home so early?” Mackenzie asks.

We’ve been staying with her parents since we moved back. I’ve had my eye on a place down the road, and after I left work, I went to a real estate office and put my place in San Francisco up for sale, then put an offer on the house here.

I don’t want to think about what the future holds, but I need to start planning. There is no way I’m going to raise Mia in San Francisco, away from my parents and Mackenzie’s. I want her to grow up knowing her grandparents and surrounded by every person who loves her on a daily basis.

The property I found is perfect. It’s a block away from her parents’ house, giving me just enough of my own space, but they’re close if I need them. Both my parents still work, and her mom has always been a housewife, so it made sense being closer to them.

“I have a surprise,” I say, giving her a hug.

“What kind of surprise?”

“You’ll see. Let’s put Mia in a stroller and go for a walk.”

She eyes me suspiciously but leaves to get the stroller. Ever since her incident a while ago she doesn’t walk while carrying Mia.

Mia’s gotten so big. She started crawling and in no time can take off across the entire room. We have to use baby gates to block off an area so she can enjoy her freedom.

When she spots me from across the room, she sits up, squealing her happiness and holding her arms out. It’s how she greets me every day; I’ll never get over how much it melts my heart.

I pick her up and get slobbery kisses when she attacks my face, holding on to each side with her wet hands. I should be disgusted, but it just reminds me of how much I love this little girl, slobbers and all.

I secure her in the stroller, and we head down the block to where a local real estate agent is meeting us.

“What’s going on?” Mackenzie asks, wrapping her hands around my arm for stability as I push Mia. She’s weaker and needs someone with her when she walks more than a few steps.

“I took a leave of absence from work today.”

“Connor, no. Why?” she asks, saddened by the news.

“Because I was missing too much with you while I was at work. We only have a little time left together. I want to be here for it.”

She leans up to kiss my cheek. We don’t talk about the fact that her time is limited. It would just be beating a dead horse. We know what our future holds. We don’t ignore it, but we don’t make it the forefront of our existence either.

“What did your boss say?” she asks.

“Surprisingly, he was on board.” I tell her how our meeting went.

“That makes me really happy.” She kisses me. “Is that the surprise?”

“No, that is.” I point to a For Sale sign in a nice-sized yard. A woman stands next to it smiling.

Her mouth drops open. “What?”

“I put our apartment up for sale today. If everything goes as planned, I can buy this with cash.”

“But, Connor”—she hesitates—“That’s your home. You didn’t have to sell it.”

“Hey, there’s no buts here. I don’t want to raise Mia in the city. She needs to be here with our families, where she can ride her bike and go to the park down the street.”

“Yes, she does.” Her voice cracks.

I kiss her sadness away. There’s no place for that right now.

“Come on. I want you to see it before I sign the official papers.”

We go inside, Mia in my arms. The agent gives us a tour of the two-bedroom place. It’s small and quaint but will be perfect for us, now and moving forward.

When I see Mackenzie sitting in the backyard smiling, I know I’ve struck gold. This is an image I’ll remember the rest of my life. The pure joy and happiness radiating off of her is my everything.

“You like it?” I ask, opening the sliding glass door.

“I love it, Connor. It’s perfect. It’s so cute and old-fashioned but updated where it matters. And look”—she points to a little playset already in the backyard—“she has her own playground.”

“She’ll love it here, and so will we.”

“Do you like it back here?” she asks, playing with Mia’s hands and talking in a sweet baby voice.

Mia laughs and squeals at her mom’s attention, and I wrap my arms around them both, holding my family in the backyard of our future home for the first time.